Danny Pariat

September 14 2008
Danny had lots of contact with the late Bill Christie of WM's who was at Seajuli at the time of the 1950 earthquake--Danny here shares some of the interesting correspondence he had from Bill who joined Tea in 1929.

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July 16 2008

The New Assistant

There was an assistant who was sent up to Mijicajan , John Hingston the Manager wired Calcutta and asked what he was being sent when he heard by wire ' New Assistant arriving Kolapani next flight ' !!

When not found at work one day Hingston called into his bungalow and found the new Assistant in the bungalow. Hingston, the Manager, asked the Assistant why he hadn't turned up for work.

His answer was that he only had Lederhosen ( German leather trousers) and had been advised in Calcutta to send his settling in allowance to his family, and his trousers were too hot ! He was told to arrive at the office in more suitable wear next morning. Hingston was rather surprised to see the Assistant arrive at the office the next morning with the rain pouring down and he, the Assistant, dressed in a swimming costume !!

He was duly returned to Calcutta on the next Kolapani Skyplayers flight with a chit to the Agents from John Hingston, the Manager, saying ' This one is sacked - not my fault this time !!
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March 15 2008

Below are some notes from Danny which should be of interest to others who served on the North Bank and Boroi districts

Danny tells us:

Met two interesting English ladies on the 3rd March 2008
Valerie Robertson and Jennifer Browne -- daughters of H.Gadsdon ex Gohpur and Zufi Sultan's first manager, if I am not mistaken.

They are both ex-Loreto, attended school from late 40's to mid 50's and had come to Shillong for two days to see their old school and the house in which one of the sisters used to stay in, Orchard View at Motinagar ---
thanks to Alan Wood they were able to locate the house --
they were thrilled.

Valerie had also taken her report card circa 1948 and the Head Mistress was very happy to get a copy of it for the school centenary celebrations next year .
Valerie said she was happy to let the sister have a copy of her report card as it was rather impressive!

Told them two 'stories' of Gohpur that I knew of -- one was when Zufi had just joined and was having dinner with his new Burra Sahab on his first night at the estate. Zufi sat at one end of a long dining table while his manager( father of the two sisters above) sat at the other end.At the middle of the dining table was a huge flower vase filled with large flowers so Zufi had a tough time seeing his manager from where he was sitting and had to constantly shift left or right to get a glimpse of him -- this carried on till dinner was finished.

This other one was told to me by John Oliver --- some of the Boroi planters used to have a ' hunt ' on horse back during the early hours of the morning and on getting back to the ( Gohpur) burra b'low would have to follow a certain ritual -- i.e. each rider had to circle the breakfast table at least once on his or her horse and if one could not do that then no breakfast!!!

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August 20 2007

Danny who is currently holidaying in North Wales has taken the time and trouble to dig into his memories and has given us an amusing story of life in Assam and we are hopeful for more stories

       In the 1950’s Bob Stammers’ father was managing Behora TE on the South bank of Assam. A new assistant from the UK had just joined Behora and as luck would have it his arrival coincided with the appearance of the first Indian whisky at the club bar .
       The new assistant soon developed the habit of dropping in at the club once in a while on his bicycle for a prelunch shot but had been warned by his manager to stay away from the Indian whisky. This whisky said the manager was nothing but poison and would finish your stomach.
       The assistant followed his manager's advice for sometime but the Indian whisky being very much cheaper was a big temptation and one day after having been advised by the expert behind the bar i.e.the bearer, he decided to switch over to the Indian stuff -- it was not bad at all and liking it he had more than his normal quota before he got on his bike and headed back to the estate.

On the way he had a need to spend a penny, he dutifully wheeled the bike off the road and got off to relieve himself. As luck would have it, he relieved himself right on top of a mimosa plant ( usually known as “touch me not” as on contact the leaves shrivel up)--- he stared at the shrivelling leaves and was thoroughly alarmed --the words of warning from his manager that the Indian whisky would poison his insides rang in his ears and he panicked --' My God,he thought, if that Indian whisky can shrivel up a plant imagine what it would do to my insides!!!!' -- he scrambled on to his bike and peddled madly, heading straight for the Doctor Babu at the hospital crying '' help,help - I've been poisoned '' -- I gather it took the Doctor hours to convince the new assistant that a plant that shrivels up on contact with anything did exist in Assam and that it was not the Indian whisky.